Councilman Joe Buscaino introduced a resolution to the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday to declare Union Pacific Railroad’s properties within Council Districts 15 and 8 a public nuisance.
“For decades, Union Pacific Railroad has failed to maintain its tracks which primarily run through communities of color. In the communities of Watts, Wilmington and Harbor Gateway, residents have dealt with everything from fires that have spread to their own properties to trash and blight to dust and more,” Buscaino said on Facebook Tuesday after introducing the resolution.
Buscaino alleges in the resolution that the properties have become the sites of homeless encampments, illegal dumping, graffiti and overgrown weeds and vegetation. Union Pacific Railroad could not immediately be reached for a response.
Buscaino’s resolution calls for the Board of Public Works to expedite the issuance of appropriate notices and documentation to effectuate the abatement of the nuisance.
The resolution also would authorize the Board of Public Works and City Attorney’s Office to take legal action necessary to effectuate the abatement of the nuisance and direct the Board of Public Works to proceed with the abatement process.
“I join the affected communities who are fed up with the lack of basic standards of maintenance along these tracks from a company who made $6.3 BILLION for their shareholders in 2020 and who boasted that Trump’s Tax Cut Bill saved them $5.9 BILLION dollars in 2017 — none of which has been invested in the communities who suffer daily from the environmental, noise and physical impacts of having a heavy freight corridor literally in their backyards,” said Buscaino, who added that the company employs 175 agents to oversee the security of 32,000 miles of track.
The resolution was not immediately scheduled for a vote.